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in
the
‘We Need To Talk’
Federation launches its youth mental health initiative.
JACKIE HEADAPOHL MANAGING EDITOR
T
mental health coordinator.
he Jewish Federation of Metro
Donors who have contributed to
Detroit is formally launching its
youth mental health initiative “We the youth mental health initiative, to
date, include The Jewish Fund, the
Need To Talk” this month. Its website,
D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation,
the cornerstone of the initiative, is avail-
Jewish Federation, the Deutsch Fund,
able at www.jewishdetroit.org/weneed-
the Hermelin-Davidson Center for
totalk and will provide resources for
Congregational Excellence, Norm and
both teens and parents, articles, crisis
Susie Pappas, and Howard and Jean
information and videos featuring teens
Dubin.
telling their stories and mental health
In January, the JN began publishing a
professionals providing advice.
series of stories on teen mental health
“We need to have a community-wide
that will continue throughout the year.
conversation about youth mental ill-
(Read related stories on pages 12 and 26
ness, and that’s what the ‘We Need to
Talk’ campaign is aimed at starting,” said in this issue.)
Todd Krieger, Federation’s senior direc-
A NEED FOR A COMMUNITY APPROACH
tor of planning and agency relations.
“Perhaps the ultimate irony is that those The catalyst for Federation’s teen mental
suffering from mental illness feel as
health efforts was the community study
though they are all alone. The reality is
done in 2016 by the Jewish Fund, which
that nearly everyone is working through
revealed that teenagers in the Jewish
a mental health challenge.
community were struggling
By bringing the discussion
with mental health challeng-
about mental illness out
es such as sadness, depres-
of the dark and into the
sion and anxiety at very high
light, we can destigmatize
levels.
mental health
the topic, make it normal
“We read the survey,
to discuss and help more
and it was like our youth
people become comfort-
were screaming for help,”
able asking for help.”
Federation CEO Scott
In addition to the
Kaufman said. “Whether it
website, Federation and
was anxiety around academ-
its partner agencies and
ics or stress or social media
consultants throughout
issues, it was a problem
the community are training 850 Jewish
beyond what anyone may have guessed.”
professionals on Safe Talk suicide pre-
Kaufman said he is grateful the com-
vention; helping to develop a curriculum munity has come together to address
on teen mental health for b’nai mitzvah
these problems. “This is a collective
students; and have hired Julie Fisher, an
effort and it’s aimed at bringing all of us
educational consultant, to develop cus-
together to maximize impact, efficien-
tomized mental health programming for cies and effectiveness. Almost everything
Jewish day schools. Federation also has
that we’re doing has been collaborative
hired Amy Wayne, MPH, who will work
and user-centric.”
on the initiative as Federation’s youth
According to Eric Adelman, executive
teen
22
May 24 • 2018
jn
n
tlight o
spo
director of Kadima, a mental health ser-
vice provider, “Most teens’ mental health
challenges are mild to moderate and can
be helped with education and awareness
and by helping them build resiliency to
work through anxiety and depression.
Unequivocally, however, some teens are
going to have an acute crisis or a chronic
crisis that, God forbid, could lead to sui-
cide, if there is no intervention.”
The Jewish community is sensitive to
the topic of suicide and knows some-
thing must be done, according to Perry
Ohren, CEO of Jewish Family Service.
“For Federation to come in and convene
all of us to work collectively and use
its access to resources to solve the big,
broad issues and prevent the real trage-
dy or crisis from ever occurring has been
very important.”
SPEAKING TO EVERYONE
On the “We Need To Talk” website,
many of the young people sharing their
stories on video come from UMatter,
a Friendship Circle program led by
Rabbi Yarden Blumstein that focuses on
empowering teens to shatter the stigmas
surrounding mental health.
The “We Need to Talk” site is launch-
ing with seven videos and more will be
added regularly, Krieger said. The pilot
video for “We Need To Talk” featuring
teens from UMatter has garnered more
than 50,000 views on YouTube.
“We’re trying to provide information
tailored toward young people and par-
ents and give them the resources they
need in a format they’re comfortable
with,” Krieger said.
“For example, some people might
want to go to larger community pro-
grams while others might prefer to meet
at someone’s home for a short parlor
meeting to hear an expert talk about
parenting issues. The website is only one
piece of our effort to get information out
to the community.”
These parlor meetings, lasting up
to 90 minutes or so, are being calling
“FRED” (Focus on Resources, Education
and Dialogue) Talks. Community mem-
bers can request a FRED Talk in their
home to which they would invite about
10 of their friends. Federation brings
in an expert to address a parenting or
mental health issue and provides criti-
cal information for attendees. “Whether
it’s managing your child’s stress, setting
appropriate expectations or learning to
identify a child who may need help, we’ll
bring the expert and the food and pro-
vide great information in a short period
of time,” Krieger said.
The first FRED Talk about 21st-
century parenting with Julie Fisher was
held last month in Huntington Woods,
Krieger said. A second FRED Talk fea-
turing Erica Saum from Jewish Family
Service, who spoke on suicide preven-
tion and awareness, was held May 16 in
West Bloomfield.
“Mental health issues don’t differ-
entiate whether you’re tall or short or
Orthodox or Reform. People from all
spectrums of the community are strug-
gling with some sort of mental health
issue,” Kaufman said. “People going
through this feel completely alone, but
the reality is that everyone else is strug-
gling with it, too. Whether you know it
or not, you’re really part of a larger group
and there should be comfort in that.” •
Visit We Need To Talk at www.jewishdetroit.org/
weneedtotalk. To request a FRED Talk, contact
Amy Wayne, MPH, at awayne@jfmd.org or (248)
203-1483.